Minecraft Landscaping Ideas as a Build Style

When I first started playing Minecraft I never considered doing any landscaping or much else with regards to it. I mainly just enjoyed building houses and general structures, not the surroundings of it. In recent days, I have gotten myself very busy with it mostly because it is one of the most challenging forms to build.

Reason being that Minecraft is made of symmetrically shaped cubes and in landscaping, you are trying to create something that looks natural and if you have ever been in a forest you know it is not symmetrical or made from cubes. This is what makes landscaping difficult and challenging in Minecraft; you are attempting to create something a-symmetrical that has smooth textures that would give the area a natural feeling like the place would be in the real world.

Let’s look at some examples I have built for this occasion. First up we have this rather tropical stranded island feeling spot. I tried to come up with an okay beach design and it is still not as perfect as I would want it, but it is rather close to be the one I’d like to use in the future for beaches and tropical areas. The sand block does not have a slab option for it which is rather unfortunate, so instead of sand slabs.

I used sandstone slabs as they have very similar textures and it does pop up quite nicely as a detail, so the ground would not be just sand. The palm tree has mostly symmetrical looking leaves. But in the centre of the tree, it is not as symmetrical, so it is not a perfectly symmetrical tree as I quite like the idea of having it a little bit a-symmetrical.

Then there is the next style which is more of a willow-like design, but the ground is less wet and has no water. A pond or two would really make this place more alive in a much larger area. The concept for the area is rather easy to build even by someone that is just starting out in landscaping. In the ground is a mixture of different dirt blocks and I personally recommend starting on a flat out green grass layer and then begin adding in podzol and other brown materials, even brown concrete powder could look good.

Yet, there is much more to do to make it look better. First, if you place the podzol and coarse dirt in spots like drops of paint on top of the canvas, the result will not look as good as you might have thought it would. The key component is to create vein like shapes to the grass with your darker brown materials. Then after the base layout of ground has been done you move on adding the trees, stones, bushes and finally the taller grass layer which can be accompanied with a few flowers to give the area a bit more colour.


Lastly, I have a more Finnish type spruce forest looking landscape. The main focus with this design is the two tall spruce trees with a central focus point of a pond. The pond gives the terrain livelier look. The rocks are also taller than in the last one as the erosion has different effects in different areas in terms of climate and weather.

Other than that, the ground is shaped pretty much the same way, but mainly the trees are different. I do hope that I will continue to get better with this style, just have not figured out how. You can view other guides and various Minecraft articles in the hub for the game below.

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